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Join Websleuths Radio for the final discussion of THE KILLING SEASON
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The Booby Trapped Apartment

well now that we have separate threads, this will be easier to ask. i've been semi-following this case thru here the last couple days but with all the posts i cant read everything. anyway, im wondering why the bombs in the apartment never went off? he obviously rigged it to blow up....so what happened? apparently the 1st person thru the door was supposed to get cut in half as well. luckily this didnt take place, but i havent heard as to why not.

Video of the controlled detonation of the explosives removed from the apartment.

Curious to the location of this facility used in the detonation. Are there any videos or pictures of the transport/caravan with presumably police escort of the materials transported from the apartment?

well now that we have separate threads, this will be easier to ask. i've been semi-following this case thru here the last couple days but with all the posts i cant read everything. anyway, im wondering why the bombs in the apartment never went off? he obviously rigged it to blow up....so what happened? apparently the 1st person thru the door was supposed to get cut in half as well. luckily this didnt take place, but i havent heard as to why not.

I think they disarmed some things at the window and shot something’s at the door....
Can I explain this NO!
but I know that Bomb squad people know what they are doing.

Women are Angels.
And when someone breaks our wings,
we simply continue to fly... on a broomstick.

Sadly what connects all these puzzles is that there's a victim@the heart of each

Join Date

Jul 2010

Posts

5,589

Originally Posted by Liz

What I've been scratching my head trying to figure out is .....

After booby-trapping his apartment and allegedly fixing a trip wire to the front door - how would he have gotten out of the apartment and closed the door if a trip wire was attached?

Of course moo but IMO he got out the same way that the robot got in to disarm the rigged killing machine(which consisted of two liquids, one poured into the other that once combined creates and explosion which would set in motion all sequence of bombs, grenades, and a contraption that would slice the person in half that came thru the front door)..

The trip wire was at waist height(where the person would in theory be cut in two).. The robot entered by simply going under the waist high trip wire, it picked up one of the two containers of liquid, and carefully brought that container of liquid back out of the apt.. Thereby disarming the explosion that would have happened when the one liquid was poured into the other..

So, IMO the shooter simply and very carefully went under the waist high trip wire when last leaving out of the apt..just as the robot did when it entered the apt.. Jmo, tho..

so they knew the apt was rigged cuz JH just came out & told them when he was arrested?

Yep, that was pretty much how it was reported.

I'm wondering if JH was just casually leaning back against his car, maybe taking a smoke break, thinking he had all kinds of time because (he thought) all the first responders were probably at his freshly exploded, towering inferno of an apartment building, trying to rescue the injured and put out the fires. I can practically visualize him doing that.

I'm wondering if JH was just casually leaning back against his car, maybe taking a smoke break, thinking he had all kinds of time because (he thought) all the first responders were probably at his freshly exploded, towering inferno of an apartment building, trying to rescue the injured and put out the fires. I can practically visualize him doing that.

1. Yep, seems the little coward thought he had it all worked out in his little sick, twisted mind. Loud techno music from his apartment from 12-1 am. He expected LE to respond and BOOM!!

2. first calls from movie came around 12:39 am. Police responded within 2 minutes. Don't know what he was doing or what his demeanor was when LE first spotted him. But from looking at pictures there appeared to be blood outside the door from theatre 9. So were movie goers running out the door with him?

3. So was he so shocked to see LE so soon that the statement about his apartment just slipped out? I also wonder was he walking toward his car, was he taking off his gear???

4. Then he tells LE or someone about the mailing he sent to the University...

He definitely seems to want to continue to be in the limelight...or to play that "gotcha" card

Last edited by scorekeeper; 07-26-2012 at 08:17 PM.
Reason: grammar

"Something's not right with that girl" - Jose Baez during Opening Statement

My post may only be used on Websleuths. Thanks.

All post are my opinion and speculation only and are not meant as anything else.......so unless I'm quoting MSM, take it for what it's worth!!!

Part of him kills 12 people and injures 59 more
THEN tells LE about his apartment, car, and notebook sent to school...
Has he already made his mark in the theater, and wants to show them
he is no flunky and can rig up bombs
OR does he want to save the fellow students at his building?
Does he have a dual personality disorder?
I see it as if there are 2 people working in his head (maybe more)
In any case - he i s complex in the least.

Women are Angels.
And when someone breaks our wings,
we simply continue to fly... on a broomstick.

Dateline's Chris Hansen reportedly got a peek inside and described what he saw with NBC viewers, remarking that the explosives were sophisticated enough to take the building down.

In the middle of his living room are dozens of black softball shaped firework shells that he bought filled with explosive power. They are all over the place. In the middle there are two jars full of liquid wires as I said all over the place there was a black box with a red blinking light. A mechanical camera then pans over on top of a glass table -- you see this water cooler jug half full of bullet. Then you pan down, then you see this black box with another red blinking light. The camera goes over, there are two chairs one has a jar apparently with fluid. The other has another black box and then there are green soda pop bottles filled with fluid all the way around.

If the gasoline had been ignited, it would have created a deadly domino effect rigged to the opening of the front door.

Steven Foster, an International Security Expert and former officer with the Aurora Police Department told the Daily Beast that he suspects Holmes' plan was to create a diversion.

“This is a classic military tactic,” says Foster. “You create a diversion, and during the confusion you can have a higher level of impact in wounding people.”

gasoline smell

inspired by the psych thread (ability to conceal behaviors) i have a thought...
gasoline has a strong, unmistakable (alarming even) odor,
if people in an apartment building, especially with middle class,
university affiliated tenants smelled gasoline indoors this would raise attention.
i'm bringing this up because i believe it could be another clue
to the extent of JH's of realizing that making bombs in his apartment is wrong,
so he sealed the containers of gasoline (bombs) somewhere else,
then brought them in to set them up.
just a guess of course.

Part of him kills 12 people and injures 59 more
THEN tells LE about his apartment, car, and notebook sent to school...
Has he already made his mark in the theater, and wants to show them
he is no flunky and can rig up bombs
OR does he want to save the fellow students at his building?
Does he have a dual personality disorder?
I see it as if there are 2 people working in his head (maybe more)
In any case - he i s complex in the least.

i don't believe in multiple personality disorder,
i strongly believe in delusional thinking
(not for personally, but i think you know what i mean)
we don't know the wording or the context of this info he gave LE,
it could have been accidental, flawed conclusions based on delusions.
yes i knew i was a poet

Whether you believe in it or not, MPD (aka DID) made it into the DSM V ( link ) Yes, it is highly debated. No, it presents nothing like the hollywood drama machine... or for that matter, the malingerers who attempt to use that as a defense.

As for whether this guy has it or not? That would be up to the defense psych to prove so. That is, assuming they even put such a disorder forward to support an insanity plea. I, personally, doubt they would. No matter.

Should they choose to go an unlikely DID route, that I am aware, there has only been one successful NGRI using DID as the defense. And that would be the case of Billy Milligan, a serial rapist, who was tried in 1978. ( link ) Here's an article listing the few NGRI cases who attempted to use DID. ( link ) The article only lists case up through 2000. A more recent though, unsurprisingly, failed case is that of Thomas "Zoo Man" Huskey ( link )